Learn Why It Took 12 Years to Bring Back 'Doom'

Documentarian Danny O'Dwyer goes inside the troubled history of this year’s excellent shooter.

Few people expected id Software's Doom reboot to be very good, let alone of one of 2016's best. The problems id Software encountered along the way were aired very publicly—remember Call of Doom? But after a game ships, that's usually where the story ends: it's a good game, who cares what it took to get there? Thankfully, documentarian Danny O'Dwyer got id Software to open up.

Though id Software has acknowledged Doom's rocky development history in the past, it's never been this open and honest about how hard it was to cancel their original vision for the game. And look, I still love the general premise, where Earth is trying to realistically grapple with a demonic invasion! But it's also true that it wasn't exactly in the spirit of the original games.

There are two other episodes in O'Dwyer's series on Doom, too. One of them takes a closer look at the game's opening moments, which help set the self-aware tone for the whole game:

And the final installment, which dives into the game's combat design and awesome soundtrack:

You don't see much of this in gaming journalism, largely because it takes a bunch of time and it's really expensive. O'Dwyer, formerly of GameSpot, is using Patreon to fund these videos. If you're interested in seeing more it the future, consider tossing a few bucks his way to help out.